Archive for the ‘Live Reactions’ Category

Within the last hour before the Kickoff show went live, it was announced on wwe.com that Rusev had not been cleared to compete and thus will not be a part of the Elimination Chamber for the Intercontinental Championship tonight, meaning that we have a surprise opening in that chamber match.

On the preshow, Booker T announces that his sources are telling him Rusev will be replaced in the Elimination Chamber by a former World Heavyweight Champion. That points to potentially The Miz, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, Big Show, Kane or Randy Orton. Unless somebody like a Chris Jericho were to make a surprise appearance tonight.

Backstage, Kane is talking in the Authority’s office with all 3 members of New Day and New Day asks to be rewarded for helping The Authority out against Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. Kane reveals that he has decided that all three members of New Day will be allowed to compete in the Elimination Chamber tonight. Xavier asks if this means they will get a bigger pod so that all three of them can fit. Kane looks confused and says if that is going to cause a problem, he can arrange for New Day to start the match and make them go through every other team. Big E and Kofi then immediately cover Xavier’s mouth before he can make things worse and says it won’t be a problem, they’ll fit. So, the bottom line is that we know all 3 members of New Day will be in the match and they will not be one of the two teams starting the match.

Another announcement was made on the preshow, this time having to do with the Divas Championship match. A ruling has been made during the Divas Championship Triple Threat match, nobody will be allowed at ringside. That means that Brie Bella and Tamina won’t be in Nikki Bella and Naomi’s respective corners. That means we will likely have a better match than just a couple of minutes full of interference and then a quick pin and a new champion. However, even with them banned from ringside, I wouldn’t rule out some kind of interference taking place.

At ringside, the announce team talks about the Tough Enough auditions and then we have an impromptu, unannanounced preshow match as Zack Ryder makes his way to the ring. I don’t think Ryder has had a singles match on a Pay Per View / PPV Preshow in over a year. Tonight, he’s taking on Stardust, who lost to R-Truth on the Payback preshow two weeks ago.

Stardust controls the early going, mostly working the torso and Ryder’s left arm. Ryder counters a Vertical Suplex into a Neckbreaker and the tables are turned. Very nice Missile Dropkick from Ryder off the ring apron to the floor. The announce team plays up Stardust’s run-in with Stephen Amell on Raw last week. Ryder hits the Broski Boot and goes for the Rough Ryder, but Stardust blocks it. Stardust ends up winning with the Cross Rhodes. JBL says it’s now called the Queen’s Crossbow, playing up a potential Stardust / Amell program.

Tom Phillips interviews Lana. She sells the beef between her and Rusev and gets gooey over Ziggler. In case you missed Smackdown, Rusev is no longer waving a Russian flag. Instead, he’s waving a Bulgarian flag. That’s a step that seems like Rusev and Lana won’t be reuniting to swerve Ziggler, but you never know.

The Miz returns, announced by Summer Rae. Miz is wearing an even crappier version of his black man-dress from his last run. Not only is he a boring performer and a below average wrestler, but he continues to have the worst fashion sense of anybody on the planet. He’s interviewing Daniel Bryan on a Miz-TV segment. Miz does the typical heel thing and asks Bryan a question and then interrupts and answers it himself. Bryan says his career is not over and he WILL be back. Bryan promotes his upcoming book. Miz says that due to doctor’s orders, Byran can’t touch him and he can’t touch Bryan. However, Bryan says that he finds Miz-TV boring and has an alternative solution to continuing it and points to the back and Macho Mandow and Axelmania make their way to the ring and clobber Miz. Axel drops the leg on Miz and Miz rolls out to the floor and retreats. The Faux Mega Powers pose down with Daniel Bryan to end the segment.

Dean Ambrose is being interviewed. Ambrose says that no matter what the Authority has planned, he’s going down swinging. Roman Reigns shows up and says that Ambrose only has to worry about Seth Rollins tonight because he will be in the corner.

JBL closes down the preshow, standing inside the Elimination Chamber and reviews the rules of the Chamber match. The chamber is set up, so it looks like one of the two Elimination Chamber matches is coming up first on the main card.